'More than 130,000 households face £475 cut in housing benefit'

As part of the Government’s radical overhaul of the benefits’ system, people who claim jobseeker’s allowance for 12 months will have their housing benefit automatically cut by 10% - leaving unemployed households to make up the shortfall in their rent.

The University of York, in a report commissioned by the Federation, estimates 133,000 unemployed households in England will be affected by the cut. The figures are released ahead of the publication of the Welfare Reform Bill, which will set out how the government plans to significantly reduce the country’s overall benefits’ bill. Read More: